The first light rail vehicle built for the Central Corridor LRT line parks at Target Field as a host of public officials, media and some members of the public, background left, attended a short program, Wednesday afternoon, October 10, 2012 at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

As Minnesota and Twin Cities leaders ponder how to keep the transit infrastructure competitive with the likes of Denver and Phoenix, they’re faced with the tricky reality that light-rail systems come with billion-dollar price tags — give or take a few million.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposal to raise $200 million per year toward new transit lines through a new metro-wide sales tax has raised a chorus of questions. Who will control the money? Will the state be able to raid the cash for unrelated spending? What lines will be prioritized?

Reaction this week has been mixed.

The Carver County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday, Feb. 19, to send Dayton a letter opposing the tax, which amounts to an extra nickel on every $20 purchase. The Counties Transit Improvement Board, or CTIB — made up of leaders from all the region’s counties — voted that same day to support the 0.25 percent sales tax, as did the Shakopee City Council.

Metropolitan regions across the country are levying a dedicated sales tax for transit, advocates said. And as a result, those communities are proceeding aggressively with new transit systems, in some cases building multiple lines at once within the same city.

The goal isn’t just to unclog major highways and streets. It’s also to create more interconnected, vibrant cities, where new employers can recruit “millennials” — the tech-savvy generation of young people born after 1982 — by offering a virtually car-free lifestyle.

“Denver is No. 1 for attracting millennials, … and that’s the future workforce,” Brian McClung, a deputy chief of staff to former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, said while moderating a recent panel discussion on transit planning for the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.

During the discussion, Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin said Dayton’s proposal would allow the Twin Cities to build several transit lines at once, unthawing a growing backlog of transit proposals.

The aim is to build 21 new rail or rapid bus lines within 20 years and expand existing bus service by 1 percent annually.

“If the pot’s big enough where we can advance multiple lines at a time … I think there’s multiple wins here,” McDonough said.

Already along the Central Corridor, between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis, nearly 60 major development projects have moved forward the past two years. And the first train won’t run until 2014.

Carver County commissioners, though, called new sales taxes a hardship and said residents have endured enough because of an uncertain economy. They questioned whether Carver County would even see much benefit from the tax in the near future.

WHOSE MONEY?

The Twin Cities metro area already has a transit tax, but counties are allowed to opt in or out.

Carver and Scott counties have opted out.

Since 2008, the CTIB has levied a 0.25 percent sales tax in the five remaining metro counties. CTIB also receives proceeds from a $20 tax on motor vehicle sales in Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington counties.

In all, CTIB has awarded $494 million to 11 projects, of which $366 million has gone toward studies and construction. Another $115 million has supported operating costs, including $7 million to $9 million a year for the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line and $5 million or $6 million a year for the Northstar Commuter Rail.

From 2011 to 2013, nearly $12 million was set aside as grants for Washington County, which has yet to see a major bus rapid transit or rail project move forward.

The biggest winner for those funds has been the Central Corridor Light Rail line, taking $284 million. The money also has helped jump-start construction of the Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit line in Dakota County.

Nevertheless, Jerry Dabe, a Woodbury electrician, worries that if Dayton’s transit tax proposal passes, the state Legislature will raid those funds for unrelated purposes. The Legislature took $30.8 million from CTIB in 2008 to help the Metropolitan Council balance its budget. The Met Council also received $11 million in grants in 2011 and $4 million in 2012 for transit operations.

“So $30 million once and $15 million another time?” noted Dabe, who spent 16 years working for the Met Council’s wastewater services.

BALANCING PROJECTS

Ramsey County Board Chairman Rafael Ortega has been leaning in support of Dayton’s proposal, but he and fellow board members worry west metro projects will hog the cash. Officials in Washington County expressed similar concerns.

In mid-February, Ortega joined a delegation of local leaders to Washington, D.C., to advocate for federal money for the Gateway Corridor, a bus rapid transit or light-rail line that would stretch from downtown St. Paul to Woodbury.

The fear is that the Gateway line effectively would be put on hold while work moves forward on the Southwest Line from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie and the Bottineau Transitway from Minneapolis to Brooklyn Park.

“If we’re talking about regionalism, we need to have a regionally balanced portfolio in terms of infrastructure investment,” Ortega said.

McLaughlin emphasized metro leaders will have to put aside differences and work as a region to unlock competitive federal funding for transit projects, as it did with the 12-mile Hiawatha Line, which began service in 2004. “We locked elbows a decade ago, and it shows.”

Frederick Melo was once sued by a reader for $2 million but kept on writing. He came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings a testy East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets with manic intensity at @FrederickMelo.

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